One rainy, miserable Sunday this fall, Ric Driver of rural Iowa City was spotted at the Johnson County Fairgrounds, calmly plucking his washtub bass in the shelter of one of the livestock barns. It ...

Take a bucket, some string, a stick and what have you got? A homemade musical instrument! Todd Moe visits a washtub bass building workshop. Nov 29, 2002 — Take a bucket, some string, a stick and what ...

Besides his work with pop stars and jazz greats, he is credited with helping to invent the six-string contrabass guitar.

You can’t rush a painstaking artist like Iowa City's Chris Threlkeld-Wiegand. Known for years in prominent nationwide orchestral circles for his exquisitely crafted string basses selling for $40,000 ...